


Day 074

by Josh_the_Bard



Series: A Year in Kirkwall [74]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age II
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-15
Updated: 2020-03-15
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:15:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23150815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Josh_the_Bard/pseuds/Josh_the_Bard
Series: A Year in Kirkwall [74]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1589257
Kudos: 1





	Day 074

We need to go to the Gallows. 

Anders woke up with that single thought in his mind. He didn’t know why he needed to go. He could purchase any supplies he needed elsewhere, without strolling into the den of the templars. However, as he took his morning meal he found he could not shake the need, almost as though it were a geas cast in him. As soon as he was ready, he set out, paying the ferryman to take him across the harbor. There he wandered around the shops. His compulsion eased but he couldn’t bring himself to leave just yet.

The templars eyed him suspiciously. They knew he was a mage but they also knew they would need a damn good reason to attack him in broad daylight. Hawke was amassing quite a bit of support in the city and that power protected everyone close to him. Anders included. 

There was a tranquil stall near the entrance to the circle. Usually, only a single tranquil ran the stall, but today there were three figures there. Two men, though one could scarcely be called an adult, and… Anders almost cried out in horror when he saw the child. An elven boy, no more than seven, clearly with the mark of a tranquil on his forehead. He and the older boy were doing small tasks under the direction of the older tranquil. They must be newly gelded.

The boy was far too young for the right. It was meant to be reserved only for mages who refused the harrowing or suspected blood mages. Anders knew very well that restraint was not in Meredith’s playbook, but he had not suspected she would go so far. Alrik would have, he would have sundered the mind of every mage no matter how young, but Meredith has rejected the idea. He had hoped that meant she was not beyond reason.

Anders walked up to the stall as nonchalantly as he could manage, and pretended to look over the wares.

“Are you looking for a particular enchantment or artifact?” The elder tranquil asked. 

“No,” Anders said, “just seeing what new items you have.” He wandered closer to the boy. “Hello. My name is Anders.”

“Hello Anders,” The boy replied. “My name is Samross.”

“Why were you made tranquil?”

“The circumstances around my arrival at the circle were very distressing. I was afraid and one of the other mages became possessed. With my emotional state it was feared I would also become possessed and so I was made tranquil for my own protection and the protection of others.”

None of that would have happened without the templars. They dragged him front his home, probably the other mage as well. They created the problem and punished a child for their mistakes. He could have been with a proper mentor from the beginning if not for fear of being snatched away from his family. 

Anders left before Justice became too agitated to control. He had to get somewhere quiet for a bit. He had been a fool to even consider that any of the templars could be reasoned with. They were either responsible directly, or through inaction. Meredith was at the heart of all of it. The course of Justice was clear. Meredith must die. The fight to make that happen would be bloody and many innocents would die. Justice would demand Anders’s life for that. He didn’t care, his life was a small price to pay for freedom. He would need something dramatic to strike against Meredith but he didn’t know what. 

In the meantime he had to support the mage underground as best he could. The fewer mages in the circle when the uprising began, the fewer would die in the initial fight. 

Anders returned to his clinic with renewed purpose. He would be the instrument of Vengeance against the Chantry for a thousand years of slavery and torture. When he was done, no one would be able to turn their heads and pretend they didn’t see.


End file.
